It's been a dismal season for the Chicago White Sox at 22-23, but has one of the team's young pitchers returned to elite form?
Michael Kopech has been mired by injuries but has strung together consecutive shutout performances for the White Sox. He now faces a Los Angeles Angels lineup that has a ton of talent, but is heading to Chicago after being swept by the Miami Marlins over the weekend.
Can Kopech keep it up? Let's find out by first checking out the odds:
Angels vs. White Sox odds, run line and total
Angels vs. White Sox prediction and pick
Kopech's biggest issue in the big leagues has been his inability to limit walks, he averages about four walks per nine innings over his three full seasons. That hasn't been the issue of late, though, as he has dished out only one walk across his last 15 innings. Further, the Angels don't walk much either, 22nd in BB% this season.
If Kopech is able to keep it rolling with his ability to strike batters out (19 K's over 15 innings and hovering around 10 per nine this season), he should be in line for a strong start against an Angels lineup that is starting to slow down after a hot start to the year. The Halos are hitting just .228 as a team over the past week.
However, the White Sox offense leaves a ton to be desired. This is a bottom five lineup across the board and hitting just .204 over the past week. Griffin Canning draws the start for LAA, fresh off a seven inning shutout effort against the Red Sox.
Counting on Chicago to produce runs is always a trying task so instead I'll opt to trust both pitchers to put together another strong outing and back the under on Monday.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.